The ANMF (Vic Branch) welcomes the Allan Government’s mid-October decision to establish the Victorian Maternity Taskforce to focus on the complex challenges in our maternity and newborn services. The Branch has also welcomed publication of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s national Midwifery Futures report.
The Victorian Taskforce was announced a week before the release of the NMBA report and aims to address similar issues identified by Midwifery Futures: The Australian Midwifery Workforce Project. These issues were previously identified at the state level by the La Trobe University School of Nursing and Midwifery FUCHSIA report and its ongoing cohort study.
ANMF (Vic Branch) Assistant Secretary Madeleine Harradence said ‘We look forward to contributing to the work of this critical taskforce through our Maternity Services Officer Nicole Allan, who is a midwife and deeply connected to our more than 6000 midwifery members and will ensure their voices are heard.’
From FUCHSIA to Futures
The FUCHSIA Report, released in 2022, found that almost 40 per cent of Victoria’s midwives regularly thought about leaving the profession and over one quarter were planning on leaving in the next five years due to feeling ‘worn out’, experiencing ‘work-related stress’ and being ‘disillusioned with midwifery’.
ANMF (Vic Branch) has provided funding to support the FUCHSIA cohort study – a longitudinal continuation of the work through to 2026 – to better understand and respond to midwifery workforce wellbeing and retention over time.
As part of ANMF’s funding arrangement, the FUCHSIA cohort study is providing a yearly report to the Branch so that we can identify trends. For instance, the 2023 cohort report revealed lower levels of burnout, depression, anxiety and stress than were reported in 2021 and 2022 but significant numbers of midwives had nevertheless moved from permanent to casual employment or reduced their contracted hours.
It may be that gaining greater control over work or reducing hours leads to less burnout and improved mental health and sleep. Future cohort studies will help us to better understand. This real-life data will then also help inform future planning for EBAs, ratios and more, as well as the work of the Victorian Maternity Taskforce.
The NMBA Midwifery Futures report, meanwhile, ‘provides momentum for the work underway in Victoria,’ Ms Harradence said.
‘Our members want to work in a system that supports and promotes the midwifery profession,’ Ms Allan said. ‘They want a system that provides access, choice and flexibility to them, and to women in their choice of maternity care ─ a woman-centred approach.
‘Our members also tell us they’re disillusioned with midwifery; they seek manageable workloads, decreased interventions, midwifery autonomy to work to their full professional scope of practice in models of care that facilitate continuity and traditional ways of working. ANMF is committed to advocating for their well-deserved and informed claims.’
Branch work and Taskforce
In June, the Branch finalised a new public sector enterprise agreement with initiatives to address casualisation of the workforce and rebuild a permanent workforce by retaining experienced midwives and recruiting new midwives. The 2024-28 Victorian public sector nurses and midwives agreement, which is awaiting Fair Work Commission approval, includes among other initiatives:
- a 28.4% pay increase over four years
- the new sole midwife allowance
- recognition of endorsed midwives in the definitions and a new endorsed midwife allowance
- ensuring senior midwifery leadership positions in all maternity services from level 4 and up – this means a senior midwife (one EFT) to be appointed at Mildura Public Hospital, West Gippsland Hospital and Central Gippsland Hospital Service (Sale) by 1 January 2025
- increased penalties and allowances to incentivise a permanent workforce, for example by 2028 the Sunday night shift penalty will be $223
‘Through recent public sector outcomes, improved ratios, and advocacy around continuity models, ANMF is doing everything within our power to improve the conditions for our midwifery members,’ Ms Harradence said.
‘Now we need to work with the government and the Department of Health to drive central but nuanced reforms by introducing proven maternity models of care, inclusive of continuity-of-care models that enable midwives to work in a way that provides safe care to women and babies and brings immense professional satisfaction. The aim is for midwives to stay in the profession that they love.’
